


no time like the present

by 2pork



Category: Amatsuki
Genre: Gen, High School AU, all of them are students, except Shamon, for obvious reasons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-09
Updated: 2014-10-09
Packaged: 2018-02-20 12:19:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2428466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2pork/pseuds/2pork
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At least they didn’t make him take off his clothes, or something equally embarrassing. At least he still had his wallet and his school things and his dignity. (Amatsuki High School AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. a very intense game

It was a free period before lunch and Toki was in the middle of a very intense game of hangman with his classmates. “Gimme a P!” he said, groaning in disappointment when his classmate only added a downturned mouth to his Bob, signalling his loss and poor Bob’s death. “Aw, c’mon, there has to be a P somewhere in there!”  
  
Heihachi laughed and elbowed him. “Slim. Maybe next time, Toki.”  
  
Toki decided that he didn’t want a next time if he lost every time. He pouted, was reminded – very loudly by most of his friends – that losers were supposed to buy drinks for everyone, and pasted on a helpless smile. “Spare a piece of paper? I’m not gonna be able to remember what all of you guys want.”  
  
Somebody ripped off a blank sheet and passed it around. When it finally reached Toki, he frowned at it in confusion and let out a laugh. “I’m not buying anyone beer!” he announced, reading the list as he headed for the door of their classroom. “Scrap the magazine, too. And the cigarettes, and the... what’s up with this? I can’t read it... um.” Toki paused and looked back at his classmates. “Do they really sell kama sutra in the convenience store?”  
  
There was a moment when Toki could hear nothing but murmurs among his classmates. Seconds later, he got booted out of the classroom.  
  
Toki looked down at the list in his hands, tilting his head to the side. “I guess... it could’ve been worse?” At least they didn’t make him take off his clothes, or something equally embarrassing. At least he still had his wallet and his school things and his dignity.  
  
His lips quirked upwards, and he joined a bunch of students heading out of the school for lunch.


	2. school can be amusing too

Contrary to popular belief, Toki didn’t meet Kon during one of his convenience store trips. In fact, they met on a Saturday.  
  
-  
  
Toki hummed something he vaguely recalled hearing on the radio that morning. He was out on a stroll, admiring the cracked pavement, the leafy branches peeking over cement walls, the metal fences surrounding the playground as he walked by them unhurriedly. The area around him dimmed for a moment and he blinked at the change, but the clouds quickly passed under the sun, and the world brightened up once more.  
  
He glanced around casually, happy with shrugging off the pressures of school, if only for the weekend. His teachers weren’t very happy with his performance at the moment...  
  
Not that it matters, he thought to himself and stopped to tighten the knots of his shoelaces. I have plenty of time to worry about those things. For a moment, Toki entertained the thought of his History teacher aiming a book at his head with an admonishing cry. He chuckled. Plenty of time, plenty of time.  
  
“What’s so funny?” someone asked, and Toki spun around in surprise. The person only raised an eyebrow at him from where he was sitting cross-legged underneath a nearby tree, a cigarette wedged between his index and middle fingers. He seemed a bit older than Toki. Mature and laidback and cool, though he wanted to do something about that head of blond hair.  
  
“Um...” Toki had to exert a lot of effort to keep himself from flailing. “I... that... uh, school?”  
  
The other teen rolled his eyes and snorted, glimpsed Toki’s face and snickered. “You were serious?” he asked. A second later, his smirk vanished and he appeared to be pondering about something. “Well, I suppose it is a little funny,” he admitted after a moment, scratching his chin, and he brought the cigarette to his lips.  
  
“You think so too?” Toki grinned, suddenly pleased.  
  
“Yeah, sure. Look, kid.” The teen leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his face set into an expectant expression. “Gimme a name to work with here.”  
  
“Ah, Rikugou Tokidoki. I’m –”  
  
“Too long,” the other interrupted. When he only received a confused look, he continued, “Your name. I think I’ll just call you Toki. Do you mind?” After saying this, he smirked and shook his head amusedly. “Whatever. So Toki, on a walk?”  
  
Toki approached slowly. “Yeah, it’s a nice day so I figured... I’m sorry, but what’s your name?” he couldn’t help but ask, and he almost flinched upon getting a deliberating stare.  
  
“Shinonome Kon. Call me whatever you like.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“No,” Kon replied easily. “If you call me a bastard, I’ll kick your ass.”  
  
“How blunt.” Toki laughed. Something niggled at the back of his mind, something important that his friends had talked about recently, something about Shinonome Kon... oh. He turned to the other, eyes wide and mouth agape. “You’re Shinonome Kon?”  
  
Shinonome Kon, the delinquent. Shinonome Kon, school-skipper. Shinonome Kon, the one most likely to bash your face in, next to Tsuruume and Tsuyukusa.  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
Kon rolled his eyes again. “One more time and I’ll punch you. Now, sit. The ground's free anyway.”  
  
Toki let out a smile and plopped down next to him. Shinonome Kon, huh.


	3. a morning in the life

Kuchiha dropped off the bed, blanket and all, at the sound of loud clanging from somewhere in the house. She groaned at the conclusion she instantly arrived at. Shamon must have tried his hand at the kitchen again.  
  
Sighing, she deposited the blanket back on the bed and made her way out of the room.  
  
-  
  
Pancake batter. Everywhere.  
  
Upon hearing the familiar shuffling of feet -- he must've woken Kuchiha up again -- Shamon turned to the doorway with his most apologetic smile.1  
  
A hard glare and a growled out, "I am not cleaning this," was what he met.  
  
"Yes, of course."  
  
"You won't be attempting this again."  
  
Shamon shifted his gaze to the ceiling, which was miraculously clear of edible things, and hummed. "I can try," he answered neutrally.  
  
Kuchiha narrowed her eyes at him, displeased, but they'd already been through that scene more than a dozen times, and Shamon never quite tried hard enough to succeed.  
  
She touched the side of her head gently, and went to sit on one of the still upright chairs. "So did you even manage anything edible today?"  
  
He grinned. "I did," he said, and flinched when he received a look of utter disbelief. "It's right there!"  
  
Kuchiha looked down at the plates set on the table, and sure enough, one of them contained a decently cooked pancake. She stared at it. "It's not round," she said.  
  
"You can't have everything."  
  
"It looks like China."  
  
"Completely unintentional." He turned sad, sad eyes at her and said despondently, "You don't like it? I can make another--"  
  
"Do we still have maple syrup left?" Kuchiha interrupted him, reaching for a fork and hoping he would take the very stupid idea of attempting cooking once more out of his head.  
  
Shamon beaming as he grabbed one of the bottles behind him and handed it over was answer enough.  
  
"Shamon-san, this is worcestershire sauce."


	4. something weird is happening

"There's something weird about this scene," Heihachi said to the green-haired boy beside him. "My best friend, playing around with... I wouldn't say with, exactly, but anyway, Toki never really struck me as someone with no sense of self preservation."  
  
The boy spared him a barely interested glance.  
  
"I've never seen anyone poke Yakuza before." He immediately found himself pushed up against the wall by his collar, and whimpered. "Ow?"  
  
"How do you know about that bastard being Yakuza?" hissed the boy.  
  
Releasing a tiny, nervous, if a bit breathless, laugh, Heihachi said, "By 'that bastard', I'm assuming you mean Bont--oomf!" He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to push down the pain from being slammed agains the wall. A few seconds later, still pressed up and lacking more oxygen than what would be healthy, he peeked at the boy under his lashes. "Did I say something wrong?"  
  
"Just tell me where you heard about Bonten being Yakuza," he said gruffly.  
  
"Everyone knows about it! You don't even have to ask around. They," Heihachi paused as one of his classmates passed by, shooting him curious glances, "kind of just tell you. Hey, you!"  
  
His classmate stopped. "Yeah?"  
  
"Take notes for me, will you? I'm not sure if I can get Toki back to class on time."  
  
"Sure, man." He then looked at him uncertainly. "Are you, like... okay?"  
  
"Huh?" Heihachi blinked and followed his gaze to the hand holding him up by his collar. "Oh! Oh, yeah, fine. See you later!" He grinned at the green-haired boy as soon as his classmate disappeared around the corner. "So. I'm Heihachi. What's your name?"  
  
The boy frowned, as if trying to make sense of him. "Tsuyukusa," he said, unclenching his fist finally and letting the other slide down the wall.  
  
"You know Toki?"  
  
"He knows Bonten," he replied dully.  
  
Heihachi, never one to let a decent conversation die, said, "So that's kind of weird, huh?" And together, they turned back to watching Toki bombard a slightly vexed Bonten with tons and tons of words.


	5. you must be crazy

It was just before lunch break again. Toki had lost a game of hangman, and once again he'd sentenced himself to the convenience store. He headed for the door with no complaints, besides the usual, "I'm not going to buy porn!" and, "Cigarettes kill."  
  
The door was about to be shut in his face, when he spotted a familiar face heading his way. "Shinonome!" he greeted, beaming. "You're in school today!"  
  
Kon raised his eyebrows at him, and lifted an arm in a lazy wave. "Yo."  
  
Toki opened his mouth to ask where he was going, when a hand shot out from his classroom and dragged his head inside, bringing him face to face with Momiji. "Wha...?"  
  
"What are you doing?!" she squealed. "Don't you know who you're talking to?"  
  
"Um... Shinonome?"  
  
"Shinonome Kon!"  
  
"... Yeah. Shinonome," he said lamely. "Is something wrong?"  
  
She rolled her eyes at him. "No, no, nothing's wrong, except for the obvious where you're fraternizing with one of the most dangerous people in school!"  
  
"He's not that bad!" Toki asssured her, laughing. "Shinonome is nice."  
  
"Ha. Shinonome is nice my ass. Tell me that again when you come back not looking like a panda." She pushed him out of the room and slammed the door closed.  
  
Toki stared at it blankly for a few seconds, decided that it's really hard to understand the female mind, and turned back to Kon with a brilliant grin. "You going somewhere?"  
  
"What's that about?" Kon nodded his head towards the door.  
  
"Oh, um, you. That aside, you up to going to the convenience store?"  
  
"Sure."


	6. over lunch

“Toki!”  
  
“Kuchiha-chan!” Toki exclaims when he recognizes the voice. Kuchiha appears in front of him, an oversized bento bundled up in her arms. “I haven’t seen you recently! Where have you been?”  
  
She puts the box down on the table and sits in front of it. “Are you being nosy again?”  
  
“Me? I’m just worried about you!”  
  
“Try that again, “ she says, rolling her eyes.  
  
“You,” Toki points his fork at Kuchiha, “are mean.” Someone passing by greets him and he says hello back cheerfully. “That aside, we really haven’t been bumping into each other.” His eyes widen as if he’s just realized something, and he turns an accusing stare at her. “Have you been coming to school _at all_?”  
  
“I have!” Kuchiha snaps, clicking her chopsticks an inch from his nose. “You’re the weird one who’s been going missing during break.”  
  
“… Oh yeah.” Toki nods solemnly before grinning. “Do you know Shinonome Kon?”  
  
She raises an eyebrow. “Yes. He’s in my year.”  
  
“Cool! I’ve been hanging out with him a lot during breaks, you see,” Toki explains. “You want to join? Have you ever talked to him? He’s a really nice guy! I think you’ll like him.”  
  
Kuchiha chews on an omelet and doesn’t respond.   
  
“He seems to not be here today, though.”  
  
“Speaking of absent, where’s that friend of yours?” she asks, racking her brain for his name. “It was Hey-something. Like hatching or whatever.  
  
“Heihachi?”  
  
“Yeah, that.”  
  
“You need to learn how to treat human beings like human beings,” Toki tells her chidingly.  
  
She scoffs. “I treat you fine.”  
  
“But I’m not the only human being in the world. There’s you too, when you’re not, you know, being a…” he stops, tapping his fork on his lips as he thinks. “Aha! An unapproachable mem—”  
  
“A bitch?” Kuchiha supplies helpfully.  
  
“…ber of society,” Toki finishes with determination.  
  
Kuchiha smiles at him. “That’s nice of you,” she says and captures between the points of her chopsticks the side of Toki’s lunchbox. “You gonna eat this?”  
  
“Uh…”  
  
“Can I have it?”  
  
Toki pushes the half-eaten lunch towards her resignedly. “Yeah, go ahead. But about the breaks with Shinonome…”  
  
She stares thoughtfully at her newly acquired egg rolls. “I’ll think about it,” she promises.


	7. curiosity?

It’s quite some time after the talk about Shinonome Kon that Kuchiha realizes she’d never actually seen the guy, and instantly makes plans to get to know him. From a distance. Because her classmates keep going on and on about how he’s scary and beats people up, and should Toki really hang out with a guy like that?  
  
At least, that’s the plan she starts with, but a few days later, a question started plaguing her mind.  
  
 _Is Shinonome Kon even a student in this school?_  
  
Toki only laughs at her when she confronts him, and she withstands it for all of five seconds before she snaps, “What?”  
  
“Nothing, nothing. I just didn’t expect you to look for him.”  
  
“Why wouldn’t I?”  
  
“Because you said you were tired of being my older sister, and I quote, _take care of your own problems, brat._ ”  
  
Kuchiha fails at fighting down a blush. “I… I only looked for him out of curiosity! And I said that when you were in fourth grade and kept hiding behind me at school!”  
  
“Hm… okay,” Toki conceded agreeably enough, but the way he smiles, eyes barely visible and head turned away, shows he’s not convinced.  
  
-  
  
She finds out that Shinonome Kon skips school for days at a time, and figures, school is troublesome after all. Shinonome avoids troublesome things, and that makes him a practical person. Practical people are okay.  
  
One day, Toki calls for her from the classroom door and she follows him until they’re outside the gate and in front of a guy with dyed hair.  
  
Kuchiha doesn’t find Shinonome Kon as intimidating as her classmates proclaim him to be.  
  
“So?” Toki asks, expectant, and pouts when he only receives a shrug. "Oh, come on. You totally wanted to meet him!"  
  
“This is Shinonome Kon? He looks like a practical guy,” she recites the same way she’d practiced a few days ago, when the thought of finally meeting Shinonome first crossed her mind; but the grin on Toki’s face as she speaks makes her waver. “What’s wrong with you?”  
  
“Is that your way of saying you approve of our friendship?”  
  
Shinonome instantly ducks his head, shoulders shaking, and Kuchiha thinks he clearly needs to work on his subtlety.  
  
She glares at them both. “Just… shut up.”


End file.
